By Victoria Wellman
|
Three female students from Stanford University have redefined the doll's house by designing a build-it-yourself version with circuit boards for lighting fixtures, fans and other electrically charged features.
Detachable, stackable pieces of wood are attached to create walls and furniture while fabrics, figurines and stickers decorate the rooms and circuit components bring the structure to life.
Scroll down for video
More than just a toy: Roominate, a build-it-yourself doll's house incorporates circuit boards for electricity in the hopes of inspiring young girls to pursue careers in the sciences
Innovation: Thanks to easy-to-put together electrical components, lights can be switched on and fans can whir in the rooms
The idea for the interactive doll's house was born when the trio, Alice Brooks, Jennifer Kessler and Bettina Chen, noticed the overwhelming majority of boys in their science and maths classes.
On closer inspection, statistics proved that only 15per cent of female first year college students were hoping to major in what they call STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).
Students of mechanical engineering design, business and electrical engineering respectively, they recalled how their own childhood games of Lego-building and solving mathematical equations for fun led them to the sciences as adults.
But when they looked around at the toys targeted at young girls today they saw only 'dolls and princesses'.
Miniature perfect: Tiny stackable pieces of wood can be slotted together to make walls and furniture while decorating can be inventive with fabrics, stickers and tiny figurines
Pioneers: Stanford students Alice Brooks, Jennifer Kessler and Bettina Chen conceived of Roominate after noticing the overwhelming majority of boys in their science and maths classes
Roominate, they believe fills a gap in the market for the kinds of toys that can make 'every young girl an artist, an engineer, an architect, and a visionary!'
The three founders hope to inspire, excite and build confidence among young girls who might later be attracted to STEM because of the early exposure to such innovative and creative game-playing.
So far they have worked with over 200 girls between the ages of six and ten who have experimented and built structures both with and without adult guidance.
The results have been illuminating, they explain on a Kickstarter page set up to raise money for development, research and manufacturing opportunities.
The bare necessities: The three founders hope that by playing with Roominate, young girls between the ages of six and ten will be inspired to learn more about engineering and technology
Research: The students started a Kickstarter page so they could continue developing the project and watching how young girls interacted with the product and have already raised $85,000
Like this: Manufacturing begins this summer and there is already a waiting list for the customers excited to build their own Roominate structures
The wrote: 'Provide a girl with a buzzer and a motor, and she's decided her room is a restaurant, with the motor serving as a fan to cool patrons and the buzzer being used by the chef when an order is ready.
'Provide a girl with a set of animal stickers, and her room becomes a pet shop, complete with dog beds and animal food bowls.'
So far Roominate has raised $61,000 more than the $25,000 its founders felt they needed to keep developing the product and eventually facilitate its mass production.
'Manufacturing will begin this summer,' they told MailOnline adding: 'Since our Kickstarter ended on Saturday, we've been getting constant requests from people who missed the deadline.'
-
Ann Curry FIRED from her Today show co-anchor job after just... -
Man with 100-pound scrotum REJECTS offers to perform $1... -
Happy memories of the big day? The 50 wedding photos that... -
Starving Greeks queue for food in their thousands as... -
Now Jerry Sandusky's adopted SON comes forward to say he was... -
School bus monitor, 68, who was mercilessly bullied by... -
Smartphone users hit out at Apple's 'rip-off' plan to make... -
Uruguay to become first government to SELL cannabis to its... -
Cheerleading coach, 22, arrested after 'performing sex act... -
The grisly last moments of four Lincoln assassination... -
Prince William expected to inherit £10million from Diana's... -
Top doctor's chilling claim: The NHS kills off 130,000...
Share this article:
Here's what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.
The comments below have not been moderated.
- Newest
- Oldest
- Best rated
- Worst rated
That is a great idea. I think that would be great for my daughter.
Report abuse
Idea is decent...presentation is terrible. It looks like something a kid would make out of old cardboard boxes and box full of scraps. Now thre's nothing wrong with kids, boys or girls, making stuff out of old scraps...but if you are going to pay for something, it shouldn't look like scraps. Eh? As for the boys getting legos...I was unaware that legos were a boys toy. I thought Knex and legos and lincoln logs and that sort of thing were just...TOYS. And both genders had equal access to them. I know my girls did.
Report abuse
I'm all for girls exploring technical subjects and one of my daughters (9yrs) adores KNEX and says she wants to be an engineer but...if I gave her this for Christmas, she'd be disappointed. It looks like something we'd make having seen Blue Peter in the 1970's. A bit, well, cereal-box-ish. Not sure I'd pay for it: great idea but a neater finish and more sophistication please.
Report abuse
That looks like a really good idea. Fun, educational, stimulating to the imagination and creativity of the child - it's the whole package. Well done ladies! I'm sure my daughter (and her brother) would love to get their hands on a Roominate kit. (and so would I, TBH!)
Report abuse
What a wonderful idea, children doing something educational, which is much better than sitting on the x-box, wii etc. playing computer games. As soon as it comes out i shall buy one for my daughter.
Report abuse
if i was a kid i would have loved to make one of those!! what a brilliant idea!!
Report abuse
The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar